Coke Blasts Targets

"Our 6% unit case volume growth in the quarter, cycling 5% growth in the prior year, is our highest quarterly growth rate since 2002," said operating chief Muhtar Kent. "The strength of our international business is evident, delivering 9% unit case volume growth, which more than offset the volume decline in North America.

"We know what we need to do in North America and are carefully addressing the issues. It will take some time to achieve the results we desire in this key market, but we expect sequential improvement as we move into the second half of the year. Importantly, we achieved broad-based growth across nearly all our key international geographies, which is a testament to our ability to manage our global geographic portfolio nimbly to generate consistent returns for shareowners."